


Changes

by PatShadowPotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Cannon Divergence, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Infrequent Updates, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Slytherins, Re-Sorting, Ron is an idiot, Slytherin Harry Potter, title may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24063937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatShadowPotter/pseuds/PatShadowPotter
Summary: Harry's summer holidays were Hell.First, him and Dudley were attacked by dementors. As a consequence of using magic to defende himself and his cousin, he gets expelled of Hogwarts. Then The Prophet publishes an article making Harry look like an attention seeker that made magic just because he felt like it and accusing him of being a liar because of what he said after the Triwizard Tournament about Voldemort.Second, his friends don't contact him not even let him know they are alive. Harry had to spend the entire holidays enter the scrutiny of the Dursley and that means a lot of chores, very few meals and lots of time locked in his room.Tired of everything Harry decides that maybe if he writes a letter to the Quibller telling the true about what really happen with the use of magic in front of a muggle, hoping it may help him get his spot at Hogwarts back. It works. When people hear about the real reason that the Boy-Who-Lived they manifest and the ministry sees himself obliged to give Harry a trial as a way to make the entire situation right. Harry wins the trial by chance.What surprises him most is when he gets to Hogwarts and has to be sorted again.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 106





	1. Diagon Alley

**Author's Note:**

> Slyterin Harry Potter was something I never taught existed, then I found the stories "Unexpected Consequences" by Siebenschlaefer and "Evitate" by Vichan and I fell in love.You should go read their stories and give them all the love they deserve because they are amazing. Now my google search tabs are full of stories with with this tag.  
> The title of this story may change in the future because I'm not sure if this is the most indicated for the story, so if any of you have any ideia you are welcome to leave them on the comments. You will be credited, of course.  
> English is not my first language so if any you find any mistake please let me know, that way I can correct and make your reading more enjoyable.  
> This story will be updated irregularly, at least until the end of June, because university sucks and I have a lot of works and tests to do. After that I will try and update at a fix day of the week.  
> I don't like Dumbledore, so the characters won't like either. He will not be written as down right evil, but he will be written as a very manipulative and uncaring person.   
> I don't know exactly why but I always imagined Harry having a snake after finding out he can speak to them so in this story he has two and also has Hedwig and both the snakes and the owl get along.

25th of August 1995,  
7:35 AM 

One week, was all it was left before Harry could go back to Hogwarts and get a little bit of freedom for the next 10 months. All he had to do was follow the absurd orders of his aunt and hope that she would let him go to Diagon Alley the day before the ride to school. With everything that happened this summer Harry didn’t had the time to go and get his school material for this year. 

The aggressive knocking on his door forced the half asleep Harry to leave his thoughts behind and get up to go and make breakfast for his uncle that needed to live for his work. Fifteen minutes later uncle Vernon was leaving the house and Harry was in the middle of cleaning the Kitchen. Aunt Petunia would get up around 9:30 AM and Dudley would only get up way past 11 AM, which would give him enough time to star with the list of chores he had that was left for him in the fridge door. 

Surprisingly, today’s list was rather small only having 3 tasks instead of the usual 8 or 9. The boy started immediately with the one that would take the longest, dusting all the furniture of the house. It took him around 50 minutes to get it done before he started cleaning the bathroom only leaving cleaning the kitchen floor for after lunch, that way he wouldn’t need to clean it again, since the kitchen was barely used between 2 PM and 4 PM. He was finishing the bathroom in the ground floor when he heard steps on the floor above. That meant that he had about 20 minutes before his aunt came down to have breakfast. 

Harry abandoned what he was doing and ran to the kitchen to start his aunt breakfast. His aunt was unusually early so he hadn’t had the time to prepare it. Like he predicted 20 minutes later Petunia was entering the kitchen to have her food.

\- Boy, today Dudley is going to spend the day with his friends and I’m going shopping with the lady’s from the book club. Seeing as you haven’t purchased your school material, yet, I’m giving you permission to go to that horrible place so that I don’t have to spend the entire day preoccupied if the house is going to be destroyed by the time that I get back - the women said in her high pitched voice - Get started on Dudley’s breakfast that I’m going to wake him up. And you still have to finish all your chores before you are allowed to leave the house.

\- Yes, aunt Petunia and thank you for allowing me to go by my school material. I will start immediately on his breakfast – Harry said in a quiet and almost robotic voice trying to hide his happiness from his aunt.

Harry hurried to make his cousins breakfast and after it was done he hurried to the bathroom to end cleaning it and to get started in the 2 on the first floor. It took him around an hour to finish his chores and then more 15 minutes to take a bath and change his clothes to others cleaner and less wrinkled.

It was around 11 AM when Petunia left Harry in front of the Leaky Cauldron, ordering him to be ready to be picked up at 5 PM sharp or he would be left behind. Harry straightened the green beanie he had on his head so that it would cover his forehead and his scar. He never liked his fame and having his scar showing was like a magnet for others to came and say something to him. With his beanie he felt like he almost invisible and he liked that.

He entered the pub and walked to the back where the entry to Diagon Alley was. He touched the right bricks and the wall opened to give him entry to the alley. Harry went first to Gringotts to get some money for his purchases. Looking at his Hogwarts letter Harry directed himself to Flourish and Blotts to by the books he needed for this year. He wondered around in the shop for a while looking for the books for classes and for books to read in his free time. He left the shop when his stomach started to make noise, remembering him that he didn’t had breakfast and that he needed to be feed. So he went back to the pub where he ordered something to eat. After lunch, the boy went to the ice cream shop, seeing as sweet things were something he rarely ate during summer.

Harry wondered around for quite some time, stopping to look at the shop windows. He ended up buying a few more quills and ink and a broomstick servicing kit. Harry looked at his clock and saw that he steal had a little over an hour left, so he started heading back to the front of the Leaky Cauldron when he remembered that he had promised Hedwig that he would bring her some snacks that she liked and a new stand for her, that way she wouldn’t need to be always in her cage. Harry headed to the Magical Menagerie where they sold pets and supplies for the pets care. He entered the shop and went looking for the shelf with owl’s food. He looked again to his clock and seeing as he still had time he decided to go and have a look at the other pets sold in the shop. 

Besides the animals allowed in Hogwarts the shop also sold kneazles and crups, puffskeins and even bats, spiders and snakes. Harry was looking at all of the animals when he heard low voices discussing about which one had the prettiest scales. Following the voices Harry found himself in front of a terrarium where 2 snakes where arguing. The boy had never seen such pretty snakes. There scales were such a deep brown they looked black in their backs while their bellies were white and both were about 50 cm long. One of the snakes had the scales in their head dark surrounded by a white ring, while the other had a fully dark head. And while they moved and the light touched their scales, they seemed to change colors from the whole rainbow spectrum. Harry chuckled seeing them argue and his sound made both snakes stop arguing and look at him.

\- Why isss the human laughing? - asked the snake with the white ring her head.  
\- Maybe he isss laughing at your uglinesss, what other reassson could he have? – responded the fully dark snake.  
\- No, he isss not! Becaussse I am the prettiessst one between usss and all the other sssnakesss in these shop. - responded the white ringed snake with what sounded like a crying voice.  
\- Do not worry little one, both of you are the prettiest snakes in this shop! You don’t need to argue over such matter. - said Harry to the little white ringed snake trying to make them fill better.

With this sentence Harry more than a 4 dozen eyes looking at him and the next second at least half of the snakes were asking him things at the same time making him not understand a thing.  
\- Could you please speak one at the time, please? I can’t understand you if you talk all at the same time? – Harry asked and all the snakes shut up leaving only one of them speaking.  
\- Do you really underssstand usss? We haven’t talked with a Human in ssso long. – said a greenish snake with a triangular head.  
\- Yes, I do. I discovered a few years ago that I had the ability to speak with snakes, but since then I hadn’t had the chance of speaking with one. – responded Harry.

He spent a few more minutes talking with the snakes before looking at the clock and seeing he had only 20 minutes before the combined hour to meeting his aunt. Harry was saying his goodbye to the snakes when he looked at the 2 snakes that had caught his attention in the first place, they looked sad that he was already leaving. Harry taught about promising that he would visit, but truly thinking about that he knew that the next time he would visit was the next summer vacations and by then his pretty snakes may already have been sold, so he did what every crazy person would do. He called the shop worker and told him he wanted to buy the 2 snakes. The man looked at him lake he had lost his mind and asked him if he was sure. Harry said yes. 10 minutes later Harry left the shop with the snacks and the stand for Hedwig plus 2 sunbeam snakes, as the shop worker had called them, and a huge terrarium for both his pretty snakes and a load of food for them, plus a book on how to take care of snakes. Everything besides his snakes was shrunken and in the bag he had with him and had a very useful feather light charm was placed on the terrarium otherwise he wouldn’t be able to carry everything with him. One of the snakes was hidden in the front pocket of his hoodie while the other was around the boys neck under the hoodie, otherwise they could be seen by aunt Petunia and she would freak over them, since she didn’t like any kind of animal that was a cat or a dog, because those where the normal pets people should have.

Harry hurried to get to the meeting point in time, which he did, but still had to wait half an hour for his aunt to get him. After getting him they headed towards the house where Dudley’s friend lived to get him. When they got there, Dudley argued with his mother because all his friends were staying for a sleep over so he had to stay to. After 5 minutes of his cousin whining, Petunia ended up agreeing and letting him know that she would be there at 11:30 to pick him up. After apologizing to the other boy’s mother for Dudley’s behavior they continued their way home. 

When they arrived Harry was given 5 minutes to guard his materials in his trunk and the he had to start doing dinner because uncle Vernon would be home any minute now and he didn’t like having to wait long for his meals. In his room, Harry rapidly opened the trunk and threw his books inside without much care and took out his invisibility cloak. After closing the trunk Harry took the terrarium out of the bag and put it on top of the trunk and next out his snakes inside the terrarium and covered it with his cloak. That way if any of his relatives entered his room none of them would notice the huge glass box with 2 snakes inside unless they tried to open the trunk.

After putting everything in its place Harry told the little snakes to not worry about the cloak and to try and make no noise if they heard anyone pass in the hall or open the door, because the people he lived with didn’t like snakes and would throw them out if they were ever found. They promised to be careful. Then Harry went down stair to make dinner. After dinner he was obliged to clean the kitchen and when everything was squeaky clean he was allowed to go to bed.

The rest of the week was spent between cleaning and being locked in his room for two days because he accidentally broke one of his aunt set plates. Even those 2 days passed quickly because now he had the company of his 2 little scaled friends. The times he enjoyed the most were the nights, because it allowed him to speak with his new little friends. The white ringed snake was a female, around 7 months old of age and the dark scaled snake was a male, around 1 year and 3 months old. It took Harry a while to figure what names to give them, which came to him while he was dusting the leaving room and his aunt was watching a documentary about gems and they showed dark gems, showing Black Opals and Onyx as examples of what dark gems were and from there came their names. That night, Harry went to his room feeling a bit anxious. He didn’t know if his little baby’s would like their names. Fortunately, they enjoyed very much being named after precious gems, and so the white ringed snake was named Opal and the dark scaled snake was named Onyx.

In the night of the 31st of August, Harry went to bed happier and more anxious them ever. The next day he would get to finally see his friends that he didn’t know if they were his friends anymore, after all they didn’t write a thing to him the entire summer. Not even Sirius or Remus had sent him a letter. Not even on his birthday had he received a card from anyone. Not even after he had been officially expelled from Hogwarts and it had been in the front page of The Prophet, not even when he had to face the Wizengamot and had been considered innocent and been accepted in Hogwarts again had he received a note asking if he was fine or telling him that everything was alright with them. Nothing at all was what he received even after sending them letters after letters wanting to know if everything was alright. 

It took him a while but he finally managed to fall asleep.


	2. Sorted Again!!??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the 1st of September arrived. It’s time for the ride to Hogwarts, a fight with his friends, a conversation with his godfather and an awkward moment in the train. It couldn’t get worse, right? WRONG!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that I will start to upload on Thursdays, since I have my Wednesday evening and afternoon free, but I can't promise anything.  
> I want to thank all the people that read the first chapter, bookmarked and left kudos, thank you very much to all of you, I wasn't expecting that many people to read it, nor bookmark or leave kudos.  
> This is a kind of long chapter and I thought about dividing but decided not to. I think it makes more sense if its read in one go.  
> I didn't say in the last chapter because I forgot, but all the characters and places used in the story belong to J. K. Rolling, obviously.

1st of September of 1995,  
7:35 AM

Yet again, Harry was woken up by his uncle’s fist banging in his bedroom door. The boy got up, returning his little babies to the terrarium, since he had taken to sleeping with them beside him in his pillow, before changing his clothes and hurrying down stairs to make breakfast for his uncle. Fortunately, this was the last day, for the next 10 months, that he was going to be treated like a servant.

His uncle’s breakfast was ready in 10 minutes and in 20 Vernon Dursley was living the house headed for work. Harry went to the fridge were his chore list was waiting for him, today the list was short since Harry had to leave early to catch the train. He only needed to clean the kitchen and take care of the bushes in the front and back yard. He started on the kitchen first since he needed to clean the counter, mop and wash the floor and it had to already be dry by the time his aunt woke up. 

When he was already finished in the kitchen he went to his room to change his t-shirt for a tank top, since it was abnormally hot for the weather at 8:30 AM.

\- Would you like to go outside? – Harry asked to his little snakes.

He had been too scared to let them out of their terrarium, but the chance of him running into his aunt today were small so he decided to let them have a little fun while he trimmed the bushes. Both the snakes were beyond happy to have a little freedom. Since he was taking the little snakes outside, the boy decided to let Hedwig out of her cage to fly around for a while.

He headed outside with Onyx and Opal wrapped around his arms, if people looked out their windows and saw Harry would think the boy had gotten tattoos in both arms. Once they were outside both snakes slithered down his arms to the grass. It wasn’t their ideal habitat but they sounded very happy to be out of the terrarium. 

It took him an hour to finish taking care of the garden, since he was constantly distracted by his snakes exploring and the constant questions they made. When he was finished he whistled for Hedwig to come back and picked up his snakes and went inside to get ready. He took a shower and changed his clothes since they were sweaty and the organized everything he needed inside his trunk.

With a tap of his wand his trunk, the terrarium and Hedwig’s cage were shrunken and tucked away in his bag while he told Hedwig to go ahead and fly to the school. His snakes were rolled up one in his neck while the other decided to stay in the pocket of the hoodie he was wearing.  
Half an hour later, Harry was inside the Knight Bus headed towards King Cross Station. He was extremely relieved when the bus arrived and he was able to get off. Even though he was early there were already a lot of people in the platform 9¾. Among them were the Weasley’s plus Hermione and Remus. Harry headed their way, being spotted first by Remus that opened his arms for him wanting a hug. He accepted and very carefully as not to harm his snakes returned the hug. After that all the Weasley’s and Hermione turned their attention to Harry asking how his summer had been.

They talked for a while and when the clock in the station marked 15 minutes to 11 AM, all the kids started saying their goodbyes and entering the train. Harry was ready to follow the when Remus pulled him aside.

\- Harry, pup, Snuffles was unable to be here for obvious reasons, so he sent me in his place. He wants me to give you a hug and wish you good luck for your school year in his place. And he begged me to ask you if he did anything wrong for you not to want to spend the summer with him. Dumbledore told us you wanted to be left alone and Snuffles is blaming himself for not being there in the end of the year when everything happened and he taught you were mad at him and didn’t want to see him. He spent all summer worried about you and really wanted you to be there. I hope you know that he loves you very much and he wished you had accepted his invitation to be there this summer. The house as full all summer with the Weasley’s coming and going and Hermione and some other people, but we all missed you. I and Snuffles just want you to know that. – Said Remus with a sad face – He asked me to give you this as your birthday present, he wanted to give it to you in person but you weren’t there so I’m giving it to you now. Don’t open it now, open it later when you are inside the train. All you have to do is say his name and he will listen and talk to you. Seeing as we don’t have more time, please write me a letter telling us about how you spent your vacations and if you want to tell Sirius something you can send the letter in the same envelope, I’m staying with him for the some time now and I know he really wants to hear from you. Now go or you will miss the train. 

Harry hugged him one more time and headed to the train to look for his friends. He put the little wrapped box in his jeans pocket. He would read it when he got to the booth. He found them in the 3 compartment in the middle carriage. He entered the compartment and sited in the opposite side from his friends. He carefully took out the things in his bag and put them in the shelf above the sits. He sat down and stared absently out the window while caressing both his snakes heads thinking about what Remus had just told him. It took him a while to notice that Hermione was calling him.

\- Harry! Is everything okay, you look distracted? – Hermione asked when Harry finally looked at her.

\- I’m fine, just thinking about something. – He responded dryly.

\- Are you sure, you don´t look that fine. – She said in a worried tone – Did your vacations go well?

\- As well as they can go when someone doesn’t hear from his friends at all, is expelled from school for saving a life and has to face the Wizengamot and live under the Dursley’s roof for 2 months. – Harry says sarcastically.

\- We were only respecting what you wanted, why are you talking like that? – She answer. – You said you wanted to be left alone so we left you alone. We only wanted to respect your wishes.

\- Respecting my wishes! I sent dozens of letters and receive 0 responses and you are telling me you were following my wishes. Why in the seven hells would I want to be alone after what happened last year, with the Dursley’s of all people! Hermione think a bit, do you really think that if I was given a choice between the Dursley´s and Sirius house I would choose the Dursley’s. Do you really think, believe even, in that? Do you really think I would choose a summer slaving around to one I would be with my friends? – Harry said angrily.

\- Dumbledore said you sent him a letter saying you wanted to stay with the Dursley’s this summer and that you wanted to be left alone so we left you alone, there’s no need for you to be screaming at us for a decision you made. Dumbledore said it would be best to do what you wanted, that way you could heal at your own pace. – Ron responded this time looking angry.

\- And you believed him because? – Harry asked.

\- Because he’s Dumbledore and he received a letter from you saying that, so he asked us to leave you alone. – Ron said still in his angry voice – He was really worried about you as all of us were, so we did what we thought was best and respected what you asked.

\- But that’s the thing, I never asked for that. No one in their sane minds would ask to be left with the Dursley’s when they could go somewhere else where they were safe. Never crossed your minds to write a letter asking me if that was what I really wanted. – Harry said this time with more sadness in his voice than anger – And why would I even write a letter to Dumbledore of all people, and how would I know that you would see Dumbledore during summer. If you were really were worried with me you would have sent me a letter or at least tried to visit me, you would have responded to one of my letters. All I needed was to know that everything was okay with you all. This summer was hell with everything that happened and if you really believe that I would prefer to be left alone then you don’t know me as well as I thought. – Harry said while getting up and leaving the booth.

Harry had to go to the last carriage to find a booth that was empty. He was really confused, his friends knew that he hated being with the Dursley’s so way would they think that he wanted to stay there. They believed it just because Dumbledore said so. Even the old man knew that Harry didn’t want to be there, so way would he lie about some letter he never would have sent. 

They all knew how his life was living with the Dursley’s, they all knew about him being starved and locked in his room for days on end and being beaten for simple mistakes any one could make, so why would they think that that life was the best life for someone that had seen what he had and had gone through what he had. 

The summer was almost like second year all over but even worse, that summer the twins and Ron had rescued him, but this time they hadn’t cared enough to try it again. He started crying over this thought. His friends didn’t really care about him if they really believed something like that so easily, just like last year when Ron had been mad at him for so long because he didn´t believed Harry was saying the truth. 

His little snakes came out of their hiding spots to try and comfort him as best as they could, promising to bite whoever had made their human cry. Opal changed her position and did her best to try and stop his tears whit her little forked tongue. That did work since the lithe tongue was tickling his face and made him smile and giggle amidst his cry. Onyx left his pocket and slithered his way into his shoulder to help his little friend making Harry laugh.

After the tears had dried and Harry was calmer he remembered the gift Remus had given him, so he took it out of his pocket and started unwrapping it. Inside the box were a note and a piece of a mirror not bigger than the palm of his hand. Harry opened the note and read it out loud to his snakes.

Dear Harry, 

I hope everything is alright with you. I’m really sorry if I’m the reason or even part of the reason you didn’t want to spend the summer with me, Remus and all your other friends. In the box it’s a small piece of enchanted glass that allows you to communicate with the person that has the other piece, all you have to do is call mine or Remus names and if we have the mirror with us we will know you are trying to talk to us. Remus also has a piece that is connected to the one both you and I have, so you can talk to him to if you need. I’ll try and have it with me at all times, but if you want you can also send me and Remus some letters. I don’t know if he told you but we are leaving together so address the letters to him, that way it won’t rise suspicion. I want you to know that I love you and that I really hope you are okay. And that I’m really sorry for not going to see you but it could be risky seeing as I’m still not under the Ministry gaze. 

Until the next time I see you, Snuffles.

Harry picked up the shard of mirror and looked at it. It looked like a normal piece of a broken mirror, he could see his reflection perfectly well. He said Sirius name out loud and waited for something. A few seconds later the surface of the mirror started getting foggy and when the fog disappeared harry could see his godfathers face. Harry smiled brightly and Sirius face wasn’t any different.

\- Harry, pup. I’m so happy to see you. Please tell me you aren’t mad at me for whatever reason – Sirius said both happily and worried.

\- Snuffles, I’m really happy to see you too. I’m a little bit mad that you didn’t answer any of the letters I sent you and for believing that I wanted to be left alone during the summer, but you don’t know me that well so I can’t really condone you for that. I just wish you had answered at least one of the letters I sent you or even sent me a letter at all. - The boy said.

\- But I sent you a few letters in the beginning of the holidays, even though Dumbledore said you didn’t want to be bothered, I didn’t want to believe that, but I never got an answer so I stopped sending letters. And when I heard the Weasley’s talking about you having been expelled from Hogwarts I tried sending a letter again but you never responded, so I just gave up thinking that you really wanted to be left alone. – Sirius said dejected.

\- That’s the problem, I never sent any letter saying that I wanted to be left alone. After everything the Dursley’s have done to me, so why would I want to stay there for the summer? Dumbledore knows that, Hermione and Ron know that even the Weasley’s know that so why did they believe in that letter that I supposedly wrote. Since I started Hogwarts, every summer the Weasley’s find a way to have me in their house for at least half the summer and last year, that happens to have been the worst of them all, I have to endure the Dursley’s the entire summer where is the logic in that. – Harry said exalted.

Hearing the high voice of their little human, both Opal and Onyx left their exploring of the booth aside and climbed the boy’s leg and tried to caress his face like he usually did when he had them on his lap. That seemed to work a little bit, since the boy took a deep breath and thanked them caressing them in return. Also making the boy not notice the worried face that Sirius made when Harry mentioned the Dursley’s and the quick change from worried to surprised at the appearance of the snakes.

\- Are those snakes? Since when do you have snakes? – Sirius asked with a surprised face.

\- Yes, these are snakes, sunbeam snakes to be exact. I bought them last week when I went to buy my material for Hogwarts. Aren’t they pretty? – Harry said with a giddy voice, petting their heads and happy that the conversation subject had changed. – This is Opal and Onyx.

\- They are indeed very pretty! But why did you decide to buy them, aren’t they out of the list of pets allowed in school. – Sirius asked looking at the snakes.

\- It was an impulse decision, I just couldn’t let them stay in that store when they could have a happy home with me, besides it’s funny to talk to them. And as long as I don’t get caught there isn’t a problem, I’m sure my roommates won’t be bothered by them and won’t tell anyone. After all if I can speak to them I may at least do it.

\- You can speak to snakes? I didn´t know that. It’s a really rare gift! – Sirius said in amazement.

\- I can. I found out in my second year during a dueling class. – Harry said. – At the time people weren’t very happy about it, so I choose to not talk about it.

\- Well, all those people are idiots then. I have to go now, Remus just got home and I have to go help carry the stuff he bought in the market. I’m very glad to have talked and seen you Harry. Know that I love very much. Goodbye.

\- Goodbye, Sirius. Send hugs to Remus even if I saw him this morning.

After that the mirror returned to looking like a mirror and reflecting Harry’s face. He stayed looking at the shard for a while, before tucking it in his pocket. Harry looked to his watch, it marked 16: 26 PM, the train was almost at Hogsmead, so he headed back to the compartment Hermione and Ron were to get his robes and let right away without looking or talking to his friends.

Harry returned to the booth he had been earlier and got dressed. He was playing with his snakes, when the last person he needed to see opened the door of his compartment. Draco Malfoy had just opened the door and entered the place like it belonged to him, surprisingly he was alone, no bodyguards to be seen. And above all he didn’t even noticed that Harry was there, so Harry stayed silent, not wanting to pick up a fight. He wasn’t in the mood for that. Fighting with Malfoy always left him angry, but if he was really honest sometimes it was actually fun. It distracted him from all his problems and everything that usually happened around him. 

Harry stayed silent until Opal slithered down his leg to go and explore and try to calm the new thing in the room, Malfoy that now was silently sobbing with tears down is face . He tried to tell her to come back, that she shouldn’t bother strangers, the only response he received was silence. Malfoy was distracted enough that he didn’t even feel the snake climbing his leg to get to the seat. 

At this point, Harry was holding his breath, trying not to call attention to himself. It took the snake to slither to his shoulder and try to get in the boys hair for Malfoy to finally notice he wasn’t alone. Surprisingly, he was rather gentle with the snake taking her of her shoulder and placing her in his lap. With that the blond boy finally looked up, to see extremely bright green eyes looking at him.

\- What are you doing here, Potter? Can’t see the booth is already occupied? – Draco said with his usual sneer.

\- For your information, I was already here when you got in so if anyone has to move it’s you, not me. Besides I’m not going anywhere until Opal decides to come back to me. – Harry responded rather calm, pointing to his snake.

That sentence made Malfoy look to his lap and actually notice that what he had just moved was a small snake. 

\- You have a snake? Isn’t it against the school rules? – The blond said surprised.

\- I have two actually. And who cares if it’s against the school rules as long as I don’t get caught I don’t have to worry about anything. And if you try and tell you will have to prove it and that would be rather hard. The teachers would most likely think that you were trying to get me into detention or in trouble and wouldn’t even believe in you. – stated Harry, while he showed Onyx. – And don’t worry I’m not going to tell anyone that you were crying like a baby.

\- You better not even think about it or the consequences could be dire. – Malfoy said. – And what about your little friends, have they deserted you? 

\- No they haven’t, I deserted them if you really need to know. And you, why aren’t your bodyguards around? Have they finally seen the light and left you behind? - Harry responded mockingly. – Is that why you were crying, want your friends back?

\- It is none of your business were my friends are or why I was crying. – Malfoy responded rudely. – Now, shut up and leave me alone. If you don’t want to you don’t need to leave the booth, but bother me and I won’t bother you.

\- Alright then. – Was Harry’s only response.

Both boys kept quiet for the rest of the trip, the silence only being broken when the train finally arrived at the station and Harry asked for Opal to return to him because they had to leave the train, which she did rather reluctantly, saying she wanted to see the nice boy again. Harry ended up promising her that he would ask Malfoy if he had any free time to spend with her. Both boys left the compartment and headed out, to hear a female voice calling for the first year students.

Harry followed the oldest students to the carriages that would take them to school, when he stopped on his track looking at the carts. There were winged horse like creatures where in the years before had been nothing, he considered that he was finally losing it when a small, sweet and dreamy voice spoke behind him.

\- Don’t worry, you’re not going mad or anything, I can see them too. – A blond girl said. – I have been able to see them ever since my first day here. They have always pulled the carriages. You’re just as sane as I am.

After that the girl walked to one of the carts and entered it, followed by Harry since most had already started their way to Hogwarts and there weren’t many left. The girl introduced herself as Luna Lovegood, which he recognized the last name from the magazine The Quibbler. When he asked her if she was related any way to the editor of the magazine she said that she was his daughter. 

The ride was short and after it both of them headed to the Great Hall to have dinner. Only when he saw the tables yet to be filled with food he remembered that he didn’t have lunch and was hungry. He headed for the Gryffindor table and sat down far away from Hermione and Ron. He needed time to think and so did they. He turned to the doors when they open to see the first years entering the Hall, all the same expression of wonder he had when he first entered the Hall.

When all of them were standing in front of the three legged stool with a hat on top, the Sorting Hat, just burst it a song and when he finished returned to his normal looking hat appearance. After that Professor McGonagall picked up the list of first year students and started calling them. When that task was out of the way was time for the Headmaster to say some words.

\- To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands – welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. We only have I matter to attend to before you are all allowed to start eating and I deeply apologize for the delay. As most of you know by now, since it was the cover of the newspaper, a student in this school was expelled during the summer vacations. Fortunately for all of us this mistake was quickly resolved and he was able to return to us this year. However, since he was expelled, he was at the moment of the expulsion, erased from the admitted students of Hogwarts, so now we need to do one more sorting to admit this student into the school. Harry Potter, could you please, step into the front to be resorted again? – Dumbledore said in his usual calm voice.

Since the beginning of the sentence “We have a matter to attend”, Harry somehow knew that this was about him and only wanted form the floor to open and swallow him whole, he was sure the Headmaster didn’t need to announce this in front of the whole school. Awkwardly and without looking at anyone, Harry got up and headed to the stool. McGonagall picked the hat up and signaled for him to sit on the stool, placing the hat in his head after he sat down.

\- Harry Potter, it seems to me that this is our 3rd meeting. I didn’t think you enjoyed my company that much. I see that you have changed and yet haven’t changed at all. Let me see what I can do for you… You still have plenty of courage, and your mind remains the same. What changed the most since the last time, was your thirst to prove yourself it has grown, with everything that happened lately I can’t really blame you on that. And this time there is nothing you can do except accept that I’m doing what is best for you. This time there is no space for discussion, I will sort you into the house you should have been in from the beginning … Slytherin! - screamed the hat.

Slowly and rather numbly, Harry stood up and willed his body in the direction of the Slytherin table. As he made his way there the colors of his uniform started to change from the usual red and gold to the green and silver of his new house. When he arrived at his new table the only place left for him was between Malfoy and a brown haired girl, so without another choice he sat down.

\- Congratulations on your new house, dear Harry! It was rather unexpected but we all need surprises once in a while. Now that this matter is taken care of, we can all eat! – said the Headmaster in his cheerful voice.

The food appeared in front of Harry and he served himself of some, remaining quiet during the entire meal. Around him people talked and sometimes would glance at him, but never once a word was spoken in his direction. He would sometimes sneak little bits of the meat he was eating to the snakes that were still in his capes pockets. He definitely needed to get a better way of transporting them around. When the meal was finished it was now time for the actual speech the Headmaster gave every year.

\- Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices. – said Dumbledore – First years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to the students – and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four-hundred-and-sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in the corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch’s office door. We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

When Harry heard the name of the new Defense teacher, he could feel the headache already forming and when he looked at the table of the faculty, she was indeed there. Dolores Umbridge, his newest nightmare. The Headmaster was already continuing his speech when a “hem, hem” was heard in the Hall interrupting him, everyone looked at the form of a small women dress in pink clothes and an awful pink head band that matched the clothes the woman was wearing.

\- Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking up at me! I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I’m sure we’ll be very good friends! The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching. Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress’s sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation … - the women kept on talking without noticing that absolutely no one was listening to her speech - … because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.

With this the pink women finally shut up and sat down and after Dumbledore thanked her for her “illuminating speech” all students were dismissed to return to their common room, Harry followed the flow of green and silver to his new common room. It hadn’t changed a thing since he had been there in his second year. Since he was technically a fifth year student, no one forced him to stay and listen to the speech the prefects gave when the first years arrived to the common. 

A dark skinned boy, introduced himself as Blaise Zabini, offered to show him were the fifth year dorms were located, Harry nodded his head and followed the boy up the stairs, to a room filled with 6 beds, his belongings were already in front of the third bed counting from the door. The boy thanked Zabini for the help, and headed to his bed. Once inside the comfort of the closed curtains, that the beds in the Slytherin dorm also had, Harry allowed himself to take a deep breath and think about all that happened that day.

It had been a really hard day. Harry took his little babies out of the pockets of the cape and placed them on his pillows. He open the curtains slightly for him to get out and go to his trunk get his pajamas. He returned to the safe zone and prepared to sleep. This bed was more comfortable but felt a little different. It took Harry over half an hour to finally manage to sleep. 

Surprisingly it was a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1- In my mind both Sirius and Remus call Harry pup as an endearment.  
> 2- I'm not really a talkative person, so I'm not that great writing dialogues, the ones in this chapter is most likely the biggest dialogue that I have ever written, so I'm sorry if it isn't that great.  
> 3- Sirius and Remus are living together in Remus's place. In my mind they were in Grimmauld Place during the summer and it was really hard for Sirius being there, so they moved to Remus's place in the beginning of the school year, since it would help them both and no one needed the house.  
> 4- After writing this chapter, I realized hiding a 50 cm snake in a hoodie pocket is rather weird and unpractical idea and is most likely uncomfortable and that aunt Petunia had to really not care about what Harry looked like if she didn't notice that Harry out of nowhere had a big "belly". Either way I still went with it because I don't hiding them in his bag is ethical at all.  
> 5- Both what Luna said and the speech by the Headmaster and Dolores are taken from the book, so I'm doing refernce to that here.


	3. First week in Slytherin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a weekend hiding in his bed and learning some ground rules for his new house, the first week of classes begins. It could have gone better if the pink demon didn't existe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in the chapter, I had some papers for university and then I started watching a cartoon with 5 seasons and I couldn't put my phone down so I ended up delaying the chapter.  
> Thank you very much to all the people that read, bookmarked and left kudos.

4th of September 1995

The weekend passed and Harry had spent it almost always in his room/bed, only leaving at night after curfew to walk a little, go to the kitchen eat the lunch and dinner he had missed and also think some more than he already was thinking. Harry also used this opportunity to show the school to his little snakes. He didn’t want to talk to his friends, not sure of what to say to them. He was also kind of afraid to face the other Slytherin kids. He knew the Slytherin kids of his year didn´t like him, maybe by Malfoy’s influence, very much and in full honesty he didn´t like them back, again by the way Malfoy behaved around him. The fact that the man that killed his parents used to belong in the Slytherin house was another thing that bothered him. He avoided thinking about that, because it leads him to think that maybe, just maybe, he was sleeping in the bed that Voldemort occupied when he was a student there.

Unfortunately, Monday arrived which meant that he was forced to get out of bed and go to the Great Hall to get breakfast with the rest of the kids. Harry open the curtains and got up, going to his trunk and taking out his uniform, then headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Besides him, 3 other boys were already using the cabin showers, which meant Harry, had to wait for one of them to leave. The first one of boys to leave the cabin shower was Malfoy, that upon seeing Harry informed him if that they needed to have a talk after he was ready and leaving immediately after not giving him a chance to answer. Harry occupied the cabin. It took 20 minutes for him to shower and get dressed still inside the cabin. The last thing Harry needed was for the other boys to see the multiple scars he had in his body. He didn’t need their pity.

After the shower, the boy returned to the shared room to guard his pajamas and found the room empty besides Malfoy that was seated in Harry´s bed with Opal in his lap, patting her small head. Harry didn´t know how to react to the way that his snake liked the caresses Malfoy was giving him or the way Malfoy seemed to like his snake back. Onyx was nowhere to be seen, maybe under the covers enjoying the warmth. He was rather fond of warm places.

\- What did you want to talk to me about, Malfoy? – Asked Harry sitting in front of the blonde boy.

\- Seeing as you weren’t present Friday and I am a prefect, I was given the task to give you the speech we usually give the first year students. – Draco said sitting straighter that he was already – First things first, our house, now yours too, isn’t the House of Evil as some students call it. It is true we have our fair share of Evil wizards, but the Merlin, most powerful and important wizard to date was a Slytherin, in case you didn’t know. Most people believe we are all into the Dark Arts just because of the actions of some of the former students of the house, but that is another lie created by the other houses and unfortunately not denied by people that know us. Even though the majority of the Slytherin students is pureblood we still have some that aren’t, like Tracie Davies from our year. And in case you are wondering, no, the few students that are muggleborn or half-blood aren’t mistreated in this house. The Slytherin house is already abused enough by outsiders that we don’t need to create more problems on the inside.

Malfoy stopped for a few seconds to regain his breath, since he had spoken without a pause and it didn’t look like he was nowhere near the end of the speech.

\- This leads to the first and most important rule of the house, if you have any problem with any of us you wait until you are inside the common room to discuss it. You never, under any circumstance, do it outside. The Slytherin house is a house that stands united in front of any adversity even if you hate the person besides you. Unlike the others we stand together until the end, one thing that you must have in mind is that we will never turn on you now that you are a snake. Most of us don’t like you and probably won’t start liking you just because you’re here now, but you can rest assure that you will never be attacked by any of us, if anyone wants to settle some matter and can’t do it with a conversation they will most likely challenge you to a duel. 

Malfoy stooped again to regain his breath, for the looks of it the boy was regretting giving the speech on his own.

\- Second rule you have to have in mind is that in any circumstance you are allowed to walk the corridors alone, now that you are a fifth year and have more knowledge in defending yourself you are allowed in groups of minimum 3 people, and if you see by any chase anyone with a silver and green uniform being attacked you help them if they need even if they don’t ask for help. We have too many students ending up in the infirmary every week, because they were attacked, so this rule was created. And this year is most important that this rule is followed, because we with the rumors about the Dark Lord being back we will be in the spot light more than ever, which means more attacks than ever even if most students don’t actually believe his back. For others we will always be guilty even if it’s by association. Everyone in this house knows the rumors are true, as you must have guessed, and know that we believe in you. Now that you are a snake we here to help you in any way you need. Third rule is an obvious one, anything you want to do that is against the rules you can do as long as you don’t get caught. If you are caught by any teacher that isn’t professor Snape you will lose points and suffer the detention said teacher gives you and you will serve another one given by Snape that will make you regret being caught in the first place. These are the house rules you have to follow, you do it and everything will go smoothly for you. Now some information that you need to know. The password changes every fortnight in Mondays and is always in the announce board for only one day so don’t forget to go see what it is when you leave for class in the morning. The Quidditch tryouts are in two weeks in case you want to join the team and this tear we are going to have to talk with the teachers about our future carriers so that they can help us better determine what subjects we should choose for next year N.E.W.T.S. Now that you are up to date, do you have any question or can we go down to meet the others and have breakfast.

\- So you’re telling me that I’m being forced to be nice to you outside the common room, even after everything that happen between us during 4 years, and that I have to have another Slytherin student with me at all times? – Harry asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

\- Basically, in a very short way yes, that’s exactly what you need to do. And knowing that you will be doing this even though I know you don’t what, I have a proposal for you. You follow these rules without fuss and the Slytherin stop messing with all your friends. We will only do something to them if they do anything to us first. If they don’t attack us in any way we will pretend they don’t even exist and won’t bother them for any reason at all, ok? Another thing, now that we are in the same house and are kind of being forced to be friends I’d prefer if you called me Draco instead of Malfoy. It may take some time getting used to, but I think it will help you feel more like your part of the group, sine we call everyone by their names. – Draco proposed.

\- Do you really promise that my friends won’t be bothered at all? Are all the other Slytherins ok with this? – Harry asked and Draco nodded in response – Then ok, I will follow your rules without much noise. And about the tryouts for the team, I won’t be participating. Even if I’m in the Slytherin house, I’m still a Gryffindor at heart and that means I won’t be playing against them in Quidditch, it’s enough that I sometimes gain points for you during classes and at the end of the year.

\- Seems kind of reasonable to me, so that’s alright. Now let’s go and get breakfast. – The blonde said, getting up and putting Opal in the pillow.

Harry nods and follows Malfoy out of the room. In the common room, most of the fifth year students were waiting for both of them. All the kids headed to the great hall to get breakfast. Harry mostly walked behind them half listening to their conversation and sometimes responding to any question he was asked. 

The Great Hall was practically full by the time they arrived and most students already had their timetables in their hands or were receiving them from their heads of houses. Harry looked at the Gryffindor table were Hermione, that had notice his entry, gave him what looked like a sad and confused look, while Ron, that was sitting next to the girl, looked at him and gave him a really angry look and turned his face to look away from him. Harry could almost hear the accusations passing through Ron’s mind, just by that angry look he received. Turning back his eyes to the green and silver house table, Harry joined the other kids, sitting between Draco and Blaise. An auburn haired girl passed Pansy a few parchments that contained the fifth year timetable. Harry received his and saw that his Monday classes were Transfiguration and Charms, while on Tuesday he had Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts. For Wednesday he had History of Magic, Herbology and Divination, while on Thursday he had Potions and Astronomy at midnight. He had Friday free to whatever he wanted. After that Harry served himself some eggs and bacon. 

When he was almost over eating the owls started showing up with some mail. Surprisingly, a blackish brown owl with white facial markings and yellow eyes landed in front of him with a letter for him. Harry took the letter and tried giving some bacon to the owl, but the bird started pecking at his eggs instead. In the front of the envelope his name was written in a letter he recognized as belonging to Remus. He was scared for a second, thinking for some reason Remus was writing him so soon. He was waiting for the end of the of the week to right to him and Sirius telling them about his first week and because he was slightly scared to tell them that he had changed houses and ended up in Slytherin. Harry slowly opened the letter.

“Dear Harry,

How are you doing? We heard about your resorting from Molly. In the beginning Padfoot didn’t take it that well, but in the end he calmed down and decided that even if you had changed houses it doesn’t mean you are going to change your personality too. We want you to know that the fact that you are now a Slytherin doesn’t change how much we love you. We know that we spent little time with you since we meet, but we do really love you. Just know that we are proud of you no matter what house you are in. 

Another thing of importance that we believe you need to know before it comes out in the newspaper is that we are trying to clear Padfoot name. We did some digging and found out that he didn’t have an actual real trial, he was simply seen in Godric Hollows the night your parents died and after was the supposed only survivor of the attack to the muggles so he was simply blamed and shoved in Azkaban before he had a change to actually prove he was innocent. We are trying to get a retrial and the paper work is already in progress. If he gets his name clear he will finally be able to stop hiding and you will be able to spend more time with us during the holidays. 

Something you said to Padfoot worried me a little bit. He told me that you sent letters that were never received and that you didn’t receive letters at all, I find that very strange, but I want you to know that I believe in you. You have no reason to lie about something like that and Padfoot said you looked pretty upset about the matter. What really worried me and Padfoot is the fact that you reacted and stated that being with the Dursley’s was something you would never choose voluntarily. I really want to know if everything is alright with you being in their house. For the little your mother told me your aunt isn’t the best person to be around when you are a magical being, for that reason me and Sirius never really meet her. We are really worried, so please when you have the time answer to this letter. If something really is wrong with you staying in their house then we will try everything in our power to get you out of that house.

With all the love, Remus and Padfoot.

P.S.: Padfoot spent most of the weekend in his animagus form that’s why there is a paw print next to my signature.”

Harry’s eyes filled with tears, he could feel the love and the worry in Moony’s words. He promised himself to get the strength to tell them the truth. He didn’t like to talk about his life with the Dursley’s, but he knew just from reading his words that he meant everyone of them, he really was worried and would try to do something about it. It was the first time someone said that to him, the Weasley’s knew that he suffered in the Dursley’s hand and they helped when he spent half the summer with them, but he felt like that wasn’t enough. Even Dumbledore knew, but unlike the Weasley’s he didn’t do anything when he had the power to help. He thought that they cared about him, he was sure the Weasley’s did, but they never really tried to help. He really appreciated the half summers he spent with them, but besides that they never really did anything, but now there was someone that was trying to protect him, that was trying to get him out of all the abuse he suffered when he was a child and still suffered now, even if it was only for a small about of time.

Draco was the first one to notice the tears now streaming down Harry’s face and in a surprising attitude, that had everyone around them gasping, he passed his right arm over Harry’s shoulder pulling him closer and started petting his hair and asked in a low voice if he was alright. Harry unconsciously passed him the letter and whispered in response that finally someone cared enough. It took all of 10 seconds for Harry to realize what he had done. In a second, he ripped the letter from Draco’s hand and ran out of the Great Hall and headed to the common room to get his books. He started heading to the Gryffindor common room and then realized that he was heading the wrong way and turned back to the dungeons.

He had made such a huge mistake, he had handed Draco Malfoy something that could endanger the lives of people he cared about. He knew that he was now a Slytherin and that they supposedly protected each other, but that most likely did not apply to revealing very important secrets like the fact that Remus knew were a prison fugitive was or that the Boy Who Lived was in contact with said fugitive. Someone didn’t need to be a genius to understand what was written in that letter and who it was referring to. He needed to talk to Draco and plead for him not to say a word of what he had read. 

Harry got his books and then went looking for the Transfiguration class room, it took him a while but he finally managed to get there 10 minutes before class. As he entered he could already see that the right side of the class was occupied by Ravenclaws, so he chose a seat in the left side in the back. A few minutes later the rest of the Slytherin fifth year students arrived and occupied the rest of the left side of the class room. At exactly 9 AM Professor McGonagall entered the classroom and started her class. The class occurred without accidents and Slytherin managed to get 15 points from answering right the questions the teacher asked. When they left for lunch, Draco pushed Harry aside and asked him if they could talk at the end of the day, to which Harry agreed.

The Charms class, they shared with the Ravenclaws again, had also occurred without any problems and when it ended Harry was dragged away by Draco to finally talk. They found a classroom that by the quantity of dust in the desks and shelves hadn’t been used in a while.

\- Please don’t tell anyone what you read in that letter! I can’t create more problems for them that the ones they already have. You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone what you read in that letter, please, promise me you won’t do it! – Harry said very quickly in a pleading and anxious tone with tears in his eyes.

\- Don’t worry about that, you gave me the letter but you didn’t say I could read it, so I didn’t. In any other occasion I might have done so, but in the state you where it felt like I wouldn’t gain anything from it and that I was meddling in something that didn’t concerned me. – Draco said in a calm voice, which made Harry’s tears stop. 

\- Did you really not read a word of what it said? – Harry asked now more calm but still a bit anxious and the blonde nodded.

\- Don’t worry, I didn’t read a word. I wanted to talk to you because I taught that me hugging you had made you uncomfortable. I’m usually touchy with my friends and even though you are definitely not my friend yet and I don’t like you that much, I imagine how hard it must be for you to suddenly change houses and end up in the house you like the least, so I’m trying to be friendly with you to avoid future altercations. So I’m sorry if I disturbed you in any way this morning with the hug and the petting your hair thing. – The other boy said in an apologetic way.

\- It’s okay. Hugs and petting my hair are things that I’m not really used to, but it fell kind of nice for the few seconds they lasted. – Harry said, his face turning deep red. – It’s rare for me to receive hugs, but it was nice. Just warn me first the next time you decide to hug me, please. I don’t like being touched that much.

The other boy agreed and both walked together to the Slytherin common room, where they found the other kids occupying one of the tables already doing the homework they had for Transfiguration. Not wanting to be left alone, Harry decided to join them and do his homework. When only 10 minutes were left for 7 PM all the kids got up and left the common room to go get dinner. After dinner they all returned to their dorms and stayed chatting for a while and Harry was surprised by the fact that all the other kids in the group tried to include him in the conversation. After a while all the kids decided that it was time to go to bed so they all got up and headed to their respective bedrooms. Harry slept really well that night.

When Morning came Harry woke up with the sound of all the other boys he shared a room with also getting up. Seeing as there were 6 boys trying to occupy the showers he decided that he would that a shower at night before going to bed. He fished his uniform from his trunk and got dressed in his bed with the curtains closed. After he was ready he picked up his timetable to see which subjects he was going to have today. In the morning he was going to have Care of Magical Creatures, which was a subject he rather enjoyed. In the evening he was going to have Defense, which put a frown in his face almost immediately just thinking about the person that taught the subject. That class was faded to go wrong.

Breakfast, the first class, that this year was taught by a women named Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank instead of Hagrid and lunch all went perfectly well. Now was time to have a lesson with the pink demon. At 2 o’clock all students were already inside the classroom. This class was one that they shared with the Gryffindor students. Professor Umbridge was already waiting for them and when the last student sat down she started speaking.

\- Well, good afternoon! – The woman said unusually cheerful and waited for the response that came from every student in a mumbled way - That won’t do, now, will it? I would like you, please, to reply “Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge”. One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!

\- Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge! – All the students said with fake enthusiasm.

\- There, now! - Said Professor Umbridge in her squeaky voice - That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please.

At that all students started looking at each other, a Defense class were a wand wasn’t needed was one of the weirdest things Harry ever heard and judging by his class mates reaction they were thinking the same. Still all students were seen putting their wands in their cape’s pockets.

\- Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn’t it? - Professor Umbridge said looking at the students. - The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year. You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please.

The women touched the blackboard again with the tip of her wand making the first message vanish and be replaced by the ‘Course Aims’. 

1\. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.  
2\. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.   
3\. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

\- Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard? – The women asked as soon as everybody had stopped copying what was written in the board. - When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply, “Yes, Professor Umbridge”, or “No, Professor Umbridge”. So, has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?

\- Yes, Professor Umbridge! – The whole class said in unison.

\- Good! - said Professor Umbridge. - I would like you to turn to page five and read “Chapter One, Basics for Beginners”. There will be no need to talk. 

The entire class followed the order and started reading. Harry hoped that this class would end soon, because he felt like he was going to fell asleep any second now of how bored he was. What saved him were the pokes Pansy was giving him whenever she saw his head start falling. What finally woke Harry up was when the teacher finally gave Hermione authorization to speak.

\- Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear? - She finally asked Hermione.

\- Not about the chapter, no! - said Hermione. 

\- Well, we’re reading just now. - said Professor Umbridge. - If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class. 

\- I’ve got a query about your course aims.- said Hermione which made Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows. 

\- And your name is? – The teacher asked with a sneer.

\- Hermione Granger. – the girl said 

\- Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully. - Said Professor Umbridge in a voice of false calm. 

\- Well, I don’t! - Said Hermione bluntly. - There’s nothing written up there about using defensive spells. 

\- Using defensive spells? - Professor Umbridge asked liked that was the dumbest question anyone could ask. – Why? I can’t imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren’t expecting to be attacked during class?

\- We’re not going to use magic? - Ron exclaimed loudly. 

\- Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr.?

\- Weasley. - said Ron.  
Harry raised his arm to at the same time Hermione did it. The teacher ignored him and gave her a turn to ask what she wanted first.

\- Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?

\- Yes! - Said Hermione. - Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?’

\- Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger? - asked Professor Umbridge

\- No, but –

\- Well then, I’m afraid you are not qualified to decide what the “whole point” of any class is. – The teacher started saying after interrupting Hermione. - Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way –

Harry didn’t like where this conversation was going. He may not be talking to them, but he still considered them his friends and he wouldn’t let the old women just treat them like what they were saying was a stupid thing that didn’t deserve any attention. So he decided it was his turn to speak, with or without being called.

\- What use is that? - Said Harry. - If we’re going to be attacked, it won’t be in a –

\- Hand, Mr. Potter! - said Professor Umbridge. 

Harry put his hand in the air being yet again ignored by Professor Umbridge 

\- And your name is? - Professor Umbridge asked. 

\- Dean Thomas.

\- Well, Mr. Thomas?

\- Well, it’s like Harry said, isn’t it? - said Dean. - If we’re going to be attacked, it won’t be risk free.

\- I repeat - Said Professor Umbridge starting to get irritated - do you expect to be attacked during my classes?

\- No, but –

\- I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school,’ she said interrupting Dean. - But you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed – not to mention extremely dangerous half-breeds.

\- If you mean Professor Lupin, - Dean started saying angrily - he was the best we ever –

\- Hand, Mr. Thomas! As I was saying, you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day –

\- No we haven’t! - Hermione started saying being yet again rudely interrupted. - We just – 

\- Your hand is not up, Miss Granger! - Professor Umbridge said and ignored her when she put her hand in the air. - It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you.

\- Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn’t he? - said Dean hotly. - Mind you, we still learned loads.

\- Your hand is not up, Mr. Thomas! - Almost screamed Professor Umbridge. - Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?

She added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up. 

\- Parvati Patil, and isn’t there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.? Aren’t we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?’ 

\- As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions. - said Professor Umbridge dismissively. 

\- Without ever practicing them beforehand? - said Parvati incredulously. - Are you telling us that the first time we’ll get to do the spells will be during our exam?

\- I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough –

\- And what good’s theory going to be in the real world? - said Harry loudly, his fist in the air again, he was getting mad with all the dismissing the teacher was doing.

\- This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world! - She said softly. 

\- So we’re not supposed to be prepared for what’s waiting for us out there? 

\- There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter.

\- Oh, yeah? - Said Harry, he really was getting pissed off with Professor Umbridge behavior – 

\- Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves? – asked Professor Umbridge in the falsest calm voice

\- Hmm, let’s think - Said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice. - Maybe … Lord Voldemort?

Gasps were heard all over the class when Harry finished his sentence, the only exception being the teacher that was now smiling at him like she was expecting him to bringing up the matter of Voldemort. 

\- Ten points from Slytherin, Mr. Potter. - Umbridge said with obvious pleasure - Now, let me make a few things quite plain. You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead –

\- He wasn’t dead! - Said Harry angrily - But yeah, he’s returned!

\- Mr-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-house-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-wor se-for-yourself! - Said Professor Umbridge - As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie. 

\- It is NOT a lie! - said Harry getting even madder. - I saw him, I fought him!

\- Detention, Mr. Potter! - said Professor Umbridge triumphantly while seating down thinking the discussion was over. - Friday evening. Five o’clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, “Basics for Beginners”.

\- So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he? - Harry asked, his voice shaking. 

\- Cedric Diggory’s death was a tragic accident! - She said coldly. 

\- It was murder! - said Harry. - Voldemort killed him and you know it.

\- Come here, Mr. Potter, dear! – She said in an annoyingly sweet voice, scribbling in a pink parchment. - Take this to Professor Snape, dear.

Harry went to his desk, picked his books and left the class room and headed to the Potions classroom, he didn’t know where Professor Snape had his office. He supposed was somewhere in the dungeons close to his classroom, but he didn’t know where it was so his best bet was the Potions classroom. Luckily or not, Snape was indeed in the Potions class room. He could hear the voice of the professor trough the door complaining to someone. Since he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of a bunch of kids he didn’t know he stayed hidden in one of the alcoves existent in the beginning of the corridor and waited for the class to end. After it ended Harry went to the class room to give the note to the professor. He knocked on the door and the professor let him in.

\- Mister Potter, what are you doing in my class? Your year only has a lesson after tomorrow. – Snape was his usual self when he was around Harry.

\- Professor Umbridge asked me to bring you this. – He said extending his hand with the note on it to professor Snape.

\- Mister Potter this behavior is unacceptable coming from a Slytherin student, but since Umbridge already took points from Slytherin and you have detention to serve with her and seeing that you are a Slytherin student for only for days, I will be lenient with you and not give you any extra detention. Keep in mind that this is the only time that I’m being kind, because the next time anything similar happens you will be serving detention with me instead and I can guarantee that it will be much worse than anything that women does to you, are we understood? – Snape said after reading the note, his face showed the displeasure he felt while talking.

\- Yes sir, I understood. – Harry said.

\- Now go before I change my mind and decide to punish you! – Snape said with a sneer.

Harry almost ran out of the classroom. He had already noticed that Snape had a certain preference over his house, but this just proved it. Snape hated him, he would take any chance he had to belittle him or give him a punishment, this time he got away with just a few words and a threat. Since he still had over an hour till dinner, he decided to go to the Library and give an answer to the letter Remus had sent. 

In the Library, Harry looked around for a hidden table since he didn’t want to be disturbed. Not for his surprise, Hermione was there accompanied Ginny, Luna and a black haired Ravenclaw girl. They seemed to be studying so he simply passed by their table and waved a hello to Luna and the other girls. When Hermione saw him pass she got up and followed him until they were hidden by some shelves.

\- Harry, I really need to talk to you. Can we talk now please? – The girl said in a pleading voice. – I know you are mad at me and Ron and that you probably don’t want to talk to us, but after what you said in the train I have been thinking and you are right. We really need to talk, so please talk to us. I know you saw the look Ron gave you at dinner yesterday and he is mad but I have been talking to him I’m almost there convincing that you being in Slytherin doesn’t change who you are. It took me the weekend to think about your change of house and I realized that I don’t care in what house you are, you were my friend first and that’s what matters more. So please can we talk?

\- I need to think a bit more, but I’m aware that we need to talk. Can you please give me until the weekend? – Harry asked her and received a nod as confirmation.

\- Thank you, Harry! And thank you for trying to make Umbridge understand, I’m sorry that you got detention I know it’s partially my fault. If I had just kept my mouth shut you would have to serve detention with that demon. I’m so sorry! – The girl said with a sad tone.

\- Don’t worry about it. That woman would have invented a way or another to get me in detention. In the hearing if she had what she wanted I would have been expelled without even having a chance to defend myself. What saved me was Ms. Figg and my memories of what happened, otherwise I would have been expelled. – Harry said with a twinge of anger in his speech. – I have to go now, but we can talk Sunday alright?

Hermione nodded and returned to her table with a small smile in her face. Harry continued his search for a hidden table and ended up finding one all the way in the back of the Library. He sat down and took out a parchment and a quill and started thinking what he should write.

“Dear Remus and Padfoot,

How are you? Everything is alright with me. The resorting was surprising, but not that much if really think about it. I think I never told this to anyone before, but in first year the hat wanted to put me in the Slytherin, the only reason he didn’t was because I pleaded not to be put there. In my second year when I so the hat again in the Headmasters office he told me that he still believed what he said in my first year, that I would have been great in Slytherin. I guess this time I just couldn’t escape. 

What surprised me the most was the way they just accepted that I was now a Slytherin and that they never tried to attack me or anything! I spent the whole weekend in my bed only leaving at night when they couldn’t see me and never once they tried something against me. They just accepted that I needed time and they gave that. Yesterday at breakfast they even included me in their conversations, they were really nice to me. When I received your letter I could actually feel the love and the worry and I started crying, not my best moment I must admit, but they didn’t make fun of me. Draco even hugged me and petted my hair. It felt weirdly good. 

I’m really happy that you are able to get Sirius name cleared, because he deserves justice and they have to start searching for Peter soon, because where he is most likely Voldemort isn’t far. Besides living in hiding doesn’t do any good to anyone, much less someone that was in Azkaban for 12 years. I hope Sirius is doing okay.

About the other question you made about the Dursley’s, your suspicions are correct. I can tell you the truth but is a conversation that I believe should be had face to face. All I can say is that the Dursley’s never saw me as family, but more as a slave. I really hope that both of you are able to do something, because Dumbledore knows and he never did anything to help and I know he has the power to help. He is one of the greatest wizard ever existed and you tell me he doesn’t have the power to help. I don’t buy that. The Weasley’s also know, but I can’t really blame them for not doing something, because they have already too many mouths to feed and not much money. And they help when they have me in their home for half the summer. When you and Padfoot have the time, please come to Hogsmead so that I can see you and talk to you.

Have you ever heard of Dolores Umbridge? She is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts. We had class today with her. Can you believe that we will only be taught the theory of spell casting and won’t ever have practical lessons? But we will still have the practical part in the exam. She says that we only need the theory to know how to cast spells. It´s ridiculous. There was a discussion during class and when I said that Voldemort was back she said it was a lie and when I insisted she took points and gave me detention. The Ministry is really desperate to pretend that he isn’t back, but that is jeopardizing our studies, just the theory isn’t enough. Oh Merlin, I sound like Hermione speaking! 

It’s all for now. I will right again when I have time or maybe talk to you through the mirror.

All the best, Harry.”

When he finished the letter he left the library and went to the Owlery to sent Hedwig with the letter. It took him a few minutes to get there and before he sent the letter the boy had a one sided conversation with his snowy owl. He hadn’t seen her in a while and he missed her. After the owl took flight, the boy left the tower and went to dinner. All the other Slytherins were already at the table and when they saw him, started asking where he had been and telling him to never walk alone again. Harry explained after then they resumed their conversation that mostly consisted of them bad mouthing Professor Umbridge, which was a conversation he joined gladly. After dinner they went to their dorm and while the other kids talked Harry forced himself to do homework. 

All the classes in the next 2 days went well. History was the same it had always been and Herbology was interesting. Thursday he had Divination in the morning, where his death was once again predicted. Ron was also taking that class and this time when Harry looked at him there was a significant reduction of anger in his look, he mostly looked sad. And in the evening he had Potions, which went rather well at least for him. Once again, Snape’s favoritism was showed when he gave 15 points to Slytherin just because Pansy had saved him from exploding his cauldron. When Hermione did the same with Neville, the teacher was his usual self and immediately scoffed and called Neville useless. What was really welcoming was the lack of judgmental looks he was used to receive from the teacher. It looked like Snape’s love for his house was bigger than the hatred he had for Harry. 

When Friday came, Harry was dreading the day. He had a felling something was going to go wrong. Seeing as it was a free day and Harry had already done all home work he let himself stay in bed a few more hours, which made him miss breakfast. Draco was nice and brought him a glass with pumpkin juice and a croissant. He spent the rest of the day, until only 15 minutes were left to 5 PM, with his new friends. 

Then he got up and left the common room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got Harry's time table from the internet and I´m using it even though it´s the Gryffindor timetable. I only changed the Astronomy class from Wednesday to Thursday because, Harry has Friday free of classes and it makes more sense to put a class that ends around 2 in the morning the day before a free day that the day before a class day. I also changed Potions to Fridays and Defense to Tuesdays.   
> The speech Draco gives Harry is based on the speech given to one that was sorted in Slytherin in the Wizarding World site.  
> Any one can notice that what happens in the DADA class is almost entirely taken out of what happens in the books, so credits to the books.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the white ringed snake I had in mind while writing: https://www.outbackreptiles.com/product/sunbeam-snake-captive-hatched-baby/  
> This is the dark snake I had in mind while writing: https://gramho.com/media/2304058864750098001
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter.


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